About 872,000 acres of forest and agricultural land were burned in Georgia during 1972, releasing an estimated 17,000 tons of particulate matter into the atmosphere. Most of this burning was done in the southwestern half of the State during January, February, and March. Wildfires burned out 34,000 acres, more than a third of which occured in March, and produced an additional 6,000 to 7,000 tons of particulate matter. The impact of open burning on visiblity in southeast Georgia was minor during the period of greatest fire use, and visiblity reduction due to smoke was not related to amount of acreage burned. Results indicate that weather conditions most favorable for burning were also best for the dispersion of combustion products. During June, however, longer periods of reduced visibility were reported even though much less acreage was burned. It appears the adverse impact on visiblity of smoke from open burning can be miniized if care is taken in selecting days when weather conditions will aid smoke dispersion.